Try
by sdbubbles
Summary: After Sandra and Gerry have a row, Steve has seen enough and takes Sandra aside and talks some sense into her, regarding how she really feels about Gerry. For geezworld234, as she so kindly put the idea in my head late one night.


**A/N: I came up with this after a late-night conversation with Gee, about Steve and Gerry and Sandra. So blame her :P**

**The song is "Try" by P!nk, which actually a really good song :)**

**Sarah x**

* * *

"What the hell do you think you were playing at?" Sandra yelled at Gerry, while Brian and Steve looked on, torn between fear of Sandra and amusement of Gerry's stupidity. He had went without her knowledge, or the others', into a party hosted by a known murderer. "I expressly told you not to go near it!"

"Better than having you in danger like that, ain't it?!" he shouted. The look on his face said it all: he hadn't meant to let that slip.

"You what?" Sandra demanded, only half-shouting this time. "What are you implying? That I can't take care of myself?"

"No, of course-" he tried to answer her back, but he was cut short.

"Right, I think that's enough," Steve stepped in between them. "Gerry, go and take a painkiller and a coffee, pal. You look like you're gonna boak," he smirked at him. "Sandra, we're going out for a drink 'til you calm down."

She wouldn't budge until Brian decided to hand her her coat and Steve guided her out by the arm.

_Ever wonder about what he's doing?  
How it all turned to lies?  
Sometimes I think__that it's better  
To never ask why_

Sandra sat with Steve, and he watched her carefully, observing her body language. "How do you think he's feeling, Sandra?" Steve asked her carefully. He was cautious not to push his luck as he was still the new boy, but he saw what Brian had been too accustomed to to notice. "Gerry," he clarified when she turned to him, confused. "What do you think he's feeling like?"

"Like crap, probably, considering the hangover from hell," she retorted. "Serves him right. Going in there was bad enough. Getting drunk was just plain bloody stupid," she added, sipping her wine. She gave up on the front and placed her glass down, putting her head in her hands. "I really hate him sometimes," she said.

"Aye, and I sailed up the Clyde in a banana boat," he said sarcastically. "I don't think so, somehow. Quite the opposite, I think," he added to his original statement. She looked up at him in surprise, sitting a little straighter. He leaned forward and tried to explain this to her. "Look, he went to that party because it needed done, and Brian and I were busy, and he didn't want to put you in there. He cares about you," he concluded.

"Yeah, well, you've barely been here five minutes. You don't know what we think," she replied, returning to her drink.

"It's not often I ask why people do this to themselves, but it's pretty bloody obvious here," he persisted. "Why bother fighting? And don't you dare tell me you don't give a damn, 'cause that'd be a lie."

She just looked at him, and he knew she was seeing what he saw now. Steve saw a man who took the risks so Sandra could be safe, who got on to her about anything the could jeopardise her physical and emotional safety, who tried to keep her laughing when she was sad or angry.

_Where there is desire  
There is gonna be a flame  
Where there is a flame  
Someone's bound to get burned  
But just because it burns  
Doesn't mean you're gonna die  
You've gotta get up and try try try  
Gotta get up and try try try  
You gotta get up and try try try_

"I don't know, Steve," she finally sighed. "I just don't know anymore." She looked like she was going to admit defeat and kick Gerry out of UCOS, just to make it easier. But it wouldn't be easy. She would miss him sorely, and he had a feeling she would be downright ill-tempered if she lost Gerry. He just shook his head in despair at the situation the two of them had left themselves in.

"C'mere, darling," he beckoned her round the padded bench. He out an arm around her shoulders, trying to get her to relax. "Now listen to me," he ordered her. "How long have you two worked together?" he asked her.

"Nine years, give or take," she smiled, remembering the best times she had wit Gerry. Steve knew of some of them – undercover as a engaged couple, his outrage at her scuba diving – but he was sure there were other things he knew nothing of. He could only tell them what he could see. And all he could see was how much they clearly cared for each other.

"And in that nine years, you seem to have fallen for each other," he reminded her. "You've got to do something. You can't live like this anymore. And I don't think you want rid of him. You need him."

"I'd probably screw it up," she admitted.

"There's no such thing as an easy road," he told her, squeezing her gently to try and comfort her. "That doesn't mean you don't go down it for fear of falling, though."

_Funny how the heart can be deceiving_  
_More than just a couple times_  
_Why do we fall in love so easy?_  
_Even when it's not right?_

Sandra turned her head to look at him. Steve knew she was wary of him, never knowing what he was thinking and how he was going to take things. But she did decide to confide in him. She had no choice. And she seemed to question it before she continued. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this," she admitted with half a laugh.

"Because Gerry's part of the problem and Brian's just pure glaikit when it comes to this sorta thing," he answered honestly, but with a grin.

"How could this have happened?" she groaned. "All my life, my relationships have just fallen apart. And all the time I was getting closer to Gerry, and still I pretend I can't stand him half the time." Her head rested on his shoulder, and he could feel her relaxing now. She wasn't angry anymore; she just seemed to be confused and upset. "It had to be Gerry, didn't it?" she sighed.

"Yep," he said, slightly too cheerily. His apparently blind optimism had a habit of annoying people, but the fact was that he was far from blind. Actually, he saw more than others thought. He just chose not to let on.

_Where there is desire_  
_There is gonna be a flame_  
_Where there is a flame_  
_Someone's bound to get burned_  
_But just because it burns_  
_Doesn't mean you're gonna die_  
_You've gotta get up and try try try_  
_Gotta get up and try try try_  
_You gotta get up and try try try_

"Don't you think it's time the pair of you just told the truth?" he attempted to talk her round to his way of thinking. "After nine years, are you no a bit scunnered with this lark yet?"

"It's a very bad habit," she confessed. "It's just dancing around the truth because we're both scared of facing it." Well, that was a start. She'd admitted she had some sort of love in her for Gerry. He took her by the hand and gave her her coat again.

"You're gonna go back to the office and you're gonna tell him how you feel," he told her sternly. "If you think I'm putting up with you two like this, you can think again, hen." He received a glare for using a pet name towards her, but it was a habit he was probably a little too used to.

As he drove her back to the office, she broke the nervous silence in the car with a question. "What am I meant to say, Steve?" she practically whispered. "What if he tells me to go to hell?"

"You've got to have the courage to do it," he replied. "The other option is fighting like cat and bloody dog." He felt round for her hand and grabbed it, squeezing it in support. "I never said it was going to be easy, but it needs doing, or you'll drive each other mental."

_Ever worried that it might be ruined_  
_And does it make you wanna cry?_  
_When you're out there doing what you're doing_  
_Are you just getting by?_  
_Tell me are you just getting by by by?_

They reached the door of the UCOS office, and saw Gerry leaning forward in a chair, rubbing his temples. "He's still hungover," Steve chuckled. He agreed with Sandra; what Gerry did last night was plain bloody stupid, but it was amusing to watch him pay for his sins.

"I can't do this!" she told him, walking away from the door window.

"Sandra, look at him," he gestured towards Gerry. He looked more than just hungover. He was upset about rowing. Again. "If you keep going like this, having a barny every time he tries to protect you or every time you get jealous or whatever, you're gonna ruin everything you've got with him!" he argued, trying to make her see reason. "Would you rather keep going with your string of relationships and end up alone, or have Gerry to love you?"

She gave him another glance and breathed deeply, and then slowly and almost silently opened the door and stepped in. Steve sat down at his desk as though nothing had happened, sneakily looking over the top of the computer. He could see the tears in her eyes as she knelt in front of him, handing him his mug of coffee. "I'm sorry," she told him gently.

_Where there is desire_  
_There is gonna be a flame_  
_Where there is a flame_  
_Someone's bound to get burned_  
_But just because it burns_  
_Doesn't mean you're gonna die_  
_You've gotta get up and try try try_  
_Gotta get up and try try try_  
_You gotta get up and try try try_  
_Gotta get up and try try try_  
_Gotta get up and try try try_  
_You gotta get up and try try try_  
_Gotta get up and try try try_

Brian looked at Steve questioningly, so he responded by placing a finger over his lips and whispering "Wheesht!" impatiently. They both watched as Gerry lifted his gaze from the floor in surprise at hearing Sandra actually apologise to him. He met her eyes and simply waited for her to expand on her return to speak to him.

"I know you were trying to protect me, and I _am _grateful," she assured him. Her hands somehow found his face, taking it gently into her fingers. She glanced briefly over at Steve, and he nodded encouragingly at her. "I don't know about you, Gerry, but I'm sick of this. We fall out so turbulently that it makes me wonder what you're really thinking every time you shout at me."

"It's because I care about you," he confessed quietly. "I get so pissed off because I care about you, and you just put it down to me being a pain."

"I know you care," she promised him. "I know that now." She looked straight into Gerry's eyes, and pulled his face to hers, kissing him slowly, but with a great deal of passion. It was good to see them finally admit what had happened to them. Steve had only been here a few weeks, and already he'd seen the tension and the desire and the care between them. It was unmistakable in people as passionate as Sandra and Gerry.

Gerry broke away from her, and he asked her, "Are you sure this is smart? You know what I'm like. I know what _you're_ like. This could be a disaster waiting to happen," he warned her.

_You gotta get up and try try try_  
_Gotta get up and try try try_

She sneaked a look over at Steve for an answer, but her just smiled at her. Then he heard her repeat what he had explained to her. "There's no such thing as an easy road, but that doesn't mean you don't go down it for fear of falling," she smiled to Gerry.

Gerry pulled her into his arms, and flashed Steve a grin. He winked at her and then turned to Brian, finding him in a state of disbelief. "How'd you do that?" he demanded in a low tone.

"The power of making Sandra Pullman listen to you, pal," he replied happily. "It can work miracles."

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please leave a review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


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